ATLANTA (AP) - Thousands of protesters gathered Saturday in Atlanta, joining their voices with others nationwide to tell the nation's new president they oppose much of what he says he plans to do.
As they began their march across town, U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta told the crowd, "don't let anybody, anybody turn you around. And never, never, ever give up. Never lose hope."
The march objecting to the rhetoric and policies of newly inaugurated President Donald Trump was one of many around the country, with the largest in Washington, D.C.
Atlanta police spokeswoman Lisa F. Bender said in an email that the crowd marching from the Center for Civil and Human Rights to the Georgia Capitol was estimated at 10,000.
Multiple media outlets broadcast video of Lewis urging the protesters to organize and register new voters.
"The next election, we must get out and vote like we never, ever voted before," he said.
The Atlanta Democrat made headlines earlier this month for challenging Trump's legitimacy. Trump responded with a Twitter post calling Lewis "all talk" and urging him to attend to his own "crime ridden" district. Lewis is a veteran of the civil rights movement who was badly beaten on the historic 1965 "Bloody Sunday" demonstration in Selma, Alabama.
Following Trump's tweet, dozens of House Democrats promised to boycott his inauguration.
Diane Lent, 66, came about 90 miles from her home in rural Habersham County to stand with her daughter Alicia Lent amid the Atlanta crowd that huddled under umbrellas before rainy skies cleared in mid-afternoon.
"I'm a woman, I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother - and I believe in justice, and I think we need to stand up for what we believe in," the elder Lent said.
Lent said she's concerned about how education will fare under the Trump administration, and she's worried about his Cabinet appointees.
She said that during Trump's campaign she was "horrified, just horrified" at the ways he referred to women.
She said she marched for social justice in the 1960s.
"I thought we were past that," she said.
Janelle Yamarick, executive director of Atlanta's Feminist Women's Health Center, stood with about 50 women, many wearing the knitted pink hats favored by demonstrators.
"We're here for the women, LGBT folks, the immigrants, the refugees, the low-income communities that we serve," Yamarick said.
She said the repeal of President Barack Obama's signature health care reforms tops the list of her concerns.
"When insurance allows for women to get their preventive services and their birth control included, it's a big concern when that's going to be repealed with no replacement," she said.
Susan Nahmias, 65, stood with the Feminist Women's Health Center crowd.
"I am here because of my fear for women's rights on all levels with our new president," she said.
Nahmias said she wanted to show solidarity as a privileged white woman with all those who are not privileged, "who are likely to increase in coming years."
"I'm Swedish originally," Nahmias said. "I came here 30 years ago. I've never been so close to leaving - but I won't. This is one of the things I will do try to make us survive the coming years."
The demonstration billed as the Atlanta March for Social Justice and Women was sponsored by multiple groups including the ACLU of Georgia, the NAACP, Georgia Equality and Planned Parenthood.